Portman: Energy Bill Will Help Promote Economic Growth
Press Release
U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) today urged the Senate to pass his energy efficiency bill. Portman's legislation, the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act (ESIC), has received widespread support from both Democrats and Republicans as well as industry leaders, energy-efficiency advocates and environmental stakeholders because it will help create jobs, saves consumers money and protect the environment. Portman outlined the environmental and economic benefits of his bipartisan bill.
"This is an opportunity for us to pass energy-efficiency legislation that helps create more jobs, makes the environment cleaner, makes our businesses more competitive, makes us less dependent on foreign sources of oil, helps with the trade deficit So this is a win-win for everybody.
"The economic growth in this last quarter was 0.7%, meaning less than 1% growth. That's kind of discouraging. You have to look around and say, what could we do to help get this economy moving again? And one area is energy. There's no question about it. And we believe our legislation will help. It is going to create jobs "
ESIC will be considered as part of the Energy Policy Modernization Act. Last year, key components of ESIC were signed into law.
ESIC uses a variety of low-cost tools to help energy users become more efficient while making the country's largest energy user -- the federal government -- reduce its energy use through the use of energy-efficient technology. The deficit-neutral bill incentivizes the use of efficiency technologies that are commercially available today, can be widely deployed across the country, and quickly pay for themselves through energy savings.
A 2014 study by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) estimates that Portman-Shaheen will create more than 190,000 jobs, save consumers $16.2 billion a year, and cut CO2 emissions and other air pollutants by the equivalent of taking 22 million cars off the road -- all by 2030.
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